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Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the Analytical Laboratory at AstraZeneca . Photo : Lisa Maree Williams - Pool / Getty Images
Oxford , Russian , homegrown : regardless of the COVID-19 vaccine , Australia ‘ needs a distribution plan ’.
By Dallas Bastian
The Australian Medical Association
( AMA ) wants Australia to quickly develop a national plan to distribute a COVID-19 vaccination .
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said it was pleasing to see that efforts of the medical and scientific community to fast track a safe and effective vaccine were going well and that the government has a plan to make a vaccine available to all Australians , but he added : “ The greatest challenge is likely to be accessing enough doses of an approved vaccine and we expect that it will take some time to provide enough vaccine for the whole population .”
The AMA said Australia needs to develop a plan for a Therapeutics Goods Administration endorsed vaccine to be distributed to at-risk groups first , particularly older adults and those with health conditions leaving them at increased risk . “ After vulnerable groups have been provided with the vaccine , it should then be rolled out to other groups . All frontline health care workers should be allowed early access to an approved vaccine .”
Khorshid said he ’ d be one of the first to roll up his own sleeve to receive a dose . He added he ’ s not likely to be the only one ready and willing as Australians know “ it ’ s the only to get back to the lives we led before COVID-19 ”.
“ There are of course implementation issues yet to be tackled about how to distribute a vaccine to those who need it ,” he added .
“ To ensure Australia is ready and able to get a vaccination out , be it the Oxford vaccination or any other vaccine approved for use by Australian authorities , we need a national COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan .”
The Federal Government inked a deal to produce the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine locally , should trials succeed .
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he is " hopeful but also naturally cautious " that it will be safe and effective .
" We are not putting everything in the AstraZeneca basket but it is one of the most advanced and the most likely , based on the expert advice we have ," Morrison said .
If it proves successful , the government would manufacture it and provide it to Australians for free .
Downing Street assured UK citizens they will be first in line for the Oxford vaccine if it ' s proven to be effective , following a Financial Times report that US President Donald Trump was considering granting emergency use authorisation for it to be deployed in the US .
A UK government spokesperson said : " We have been clear that we will only roll out a vaccine once it is deemed safe and effective by our regulators .
" AstraZeneca have entered into a number of agreements with other countries , they have the global licensing agreement with Oxford , but we have been clear : once it has been found to be effective , we have signed a deal for 100 million doses which means that once it is effective the UK will get first access ."
Writing for The Conversation , Professor Katie Louise Flanagan , an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Tasmania , and Magdalena Plebanski , a Professor of Immunology at RMIT University , reminded Australians that the Oxford vaccine hasn ' t completed phase 3 trials , “ so we can ' t be sure it will be safe and effective for all ”.
The virus has mostly been tested on young , healthy individuals , the pair added : “ It may still produce serious side effects we don ’ t yet know about .”
The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group , Andrew Pollard , told BBC Radio that the vaccine could be put before regulators by the end of the year .
Pollard said : " It is just possible that if the cases accrue rapidly in the clinical trials , that we could have that data before regulators this year , and then there would be a process that they go through in order to make a full assessment of the data .”
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